Refugee By Alan Gratz Published by Scholastic Inc. Age Range: 9+ Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N | Worldcat This compelling novel will help young people make sense of today’s refugee crisis. — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Description JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world . . . ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America . . . MAHMOUD is...

The Cat at the Wall By Deborah Ellis Published by Groundwood Books Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N “A soulful story that captures the magic of possibility, even in difficult times.” —Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) Description A cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house on the West Bank that has been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realizes that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards. Should she help him? After all, she’s just a cat. Or is she? She was once a regular North American girl, but that was before she died...

Azzi In Between By Sarah Garland Illustrated by Sarah Garland Published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books “A perfect choice for reluctant readers and students like Azzi, learning English as a second language, every school should have this book readily to hand for every child to read – and perhaps it should also become compulsory reading for all government employees who work with asylum seekers.” –Marjorie Coughlan, Paper Tigers Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Azzi and her parents are in danger. They have to leave their home and escape to...

A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return By Zeina Abirached Translated by Edward Gauvin Published by Graphic Universe “For young readers, “A Game for Swallows” will come as a revelation. At a time when the Middle East is still in turmoil and when Americans have suffered losses of electricity and other necessities during recent storms and floods, this is a story that will hit home even as it causes young, impressionable eyes to look at life abroad.” –The New York Times Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description When Zeina was born, the civil war in Lebanon...

Where the Streets Had a Name By Randa Abdel-Fattah Published by Scholastic Press “As she did in Does My Head Look Big in This? (2007) and Ten Things I Hate About Me (2009), Abdel-Fattah introduces a bright, articulate Muslim heroine coping with contemporary life…A refreshing and hopeful teen perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma.” –Kirkus Reviews Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Critically acclaimed author Randa Abdel-Fattah’s middle-grade debut about the journey — and risks — a Palestinian girl will take to save her...

Silent Music: a Story of Baghdad By James Rumford Published by Roaring Brook Press “Told plainly and without bathos, this is one story of how people use art to find understanding.” –The Horn Book Magazine Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description When bombs begin to fall, Ali drowns out the sound of war with a pen. Like other children living in Baghdad, Ali loves soccer, music and dancing, but most of all, he loves the ancient art of calligraphy. When bombs begin to fall on his city, Ali turns to his pen, writing sweeping and gliding words to the silent music that...

A Stone in my Hand By Cathryn Clinton Published by Candlewick Press “With a sharp eye for nuances of culture and the political situation in the Middle East, Clinton has created a rich, colorful cast of characters and created an emotionally charged novel.” –School Library Journal Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description The year is 1988 in Gaza City, and it has been a month since eleven-year-old Malaak’s father left to seek work in Israel, only to disappear. Every day Malaak climbs to the roof and waits, speaking little to anyone, preferring the company of...

Samir and Yonatan By Daniella Carmi Translated from Hebrew by Yael Lotan Published by Arthur A. Levine Books “This thoughtful and well-written book would be a good starting point for discussion on the current situation in the Middle East. Its easy and flowing style makes it accessible to middle schoolers, while its topic makes it equally appropriate for older teens.” –KILATT Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Nothing could be more frightening to Samir, a Palestinian boy, than to be where he is now: an Israeli hospital ward, trapped among the very people he...

Ten Things I Hate About Me By Randa Abdel-Fattah Published by Orchard Books “On one level an accessible and enjoyable drama of teenage live, on another, a thought-provoking examination of the pressures faced by young women, particularly Muslims, growing up in a westernized society, this is a book every library should contain.” –The Guardian (UK) Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description “At school I’m Aussie-blonde Jamie — one of the crowd. At home I’m Muslim Jamilah — driven mad by my Stone Age dad....

Santa Claus in Baghdad By Elsa Marston Published by Indiana University Press “Though few examples of popular culture depict Arabs in a positive light, Marston’s collection is one of the exceptions. Eight Muslim teen narrators are hopeful in the face of poverty, grief, and despair. The author, who worked and traveled extensively to the Middle East, has an uncanny ability to understand the Muslim culture and relay her characters’ innermost thoughts to Western audiences” –Chantal Walvoord, ForeWord Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description What is it like to be a...

Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak By Deborah Ellis Published by Groundwood Books “…an accessible way of approaching a huge and difficult topic, this book should be required reading for adults who care about children living in any conflict-influenced situation, from Israel to violent neighborhoods in the United States.”—Francisca Goldsmith, VOYA Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Deborah Ellis’s enormously popular “Breadwinner” trilogy recounted the experiences of children living in Afghanistan; now...

19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East By Namoi Shihab Nye Published by HarperCollins Children’s “…These poems show what life is like for Arab Americans who are tied to two very different worlds. Caught painfully between these two worlds, they feel the horror and sadness over the terrorist acts yet are aware of the many innocent Arabs who have become victims as well…This collection can help teens understand a different point of view and a culture with which most teens are not familiar” —Jennifer Rice, VOYA Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N...

Moon Watchers: Shirin’s Ramadan Miracle By Reza Jalali Illustrated by Anne Sibley O’Brien Published by Tilbury House “Non-Muslim readers will walk away with a more developed global perspective, [and] Muslims will relate the tale to their own Ramadan experiences” —ForeWord Reviews Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Looking through the tall trees in their backyard in Maine, Shirin and her dad search for a glimpse of the new moon, the sign that the month of Ramadan has begun. Ramadan is a time when Muslims around the world pray, fast, and pay...

Does My Head Look Big In This? By Randa Abdel-Fattah Published by Orchard Books “…the book is wonderful at showing the diversity within Muslim communities and in explaining why so many women choose to wear the hijab.” —School Library Journal “What’s so good about the story is just how easy it is for non-Muslim readers to relate to Amal; and I’m sure Muslim readers will snap this one up since they rarely see themselves portrayed in YA literature.” —KLIATT Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Sixteen-year-old Amal makes the decision...

Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees By Deborah Ellis Published by Groundwood Books “An important, current title that will have lasting significance.” —Hazel Rochman, Booklist “All ages can relate to these children…a starting point for a discussion on the impact of war on children from the child’s perspective.” —Susan Allen, VOYA Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description The United States and its allies invaded Iraq seven years ago. Today the country is still at war, and no one can claim that true democracy has come. Four million...